During the plant protection of fiber optic cables, technicians are often required to mark the electronic location of a buried cable facility. The marking is intended to allow contractors to avoid buried cable location during digging operations. Spraying a water-soluble paint on the ground is the usual method for providing this type of marking. Since the paint tends to wash off or wear away after two or three days, the buried cable location needs to be frequently re-marked to keep the contractors aware of the buried facility. Additionally, most state one-call laws require utility companies to identify the marked facility by the company name and by the standard color code of the buried facility. For example, any facility marked by an AT&T technician must have the words AT&T Buried Fiber Optic Cable on the mark for identification. In addition, the 800-call back number is also required to allow the digging contractor to call if there is a problem with the electronic locates.
The prior art method of providing this type of company-ID marking is to manually write the identification of the facility with a paint spray can. The marking, therefore, is only as legible as is possible for the technician to achieve. In situations where a technician is required to mark a large number of locations, the marking may become illegible and, as a result, of little use. A need remains, therefore, for an improved system of marking the location of buried cable facilities.